Google Releases Update for Chrome Browser to v18

Google's updated its Chrome browser now to version 18 on the stable channel. The major new improvement in this release is the addition of hardware acceleration for graphics in Canvas2D and WebGL.

John "More CPU in Your GPU" Bauman and Brian "FPS" Salomon and penned in the Chromium blog:

«We’ve enabled GPU-accelerated Canvas2D on capable Windows and Mac computers, which should make web applications like games perform even better than a pure software implementation. GPU-accelerated Canvas2D has previously been enabled in the Beta channel for quite some time, so hopefully developers have had a chance to try it out. We’re continuing to make improvements and tweaks to our Canvas2D implementation, so please file a bug in our public issue tracker if you encounter problems.

WebGL enables compelling 3D content on the web, so we want to ensure that as many users as possible have access to this technology. That’s why we’ve enabled SwiftShader, a software rasterizer licensed from our friends at TransGaming, for users with older configurations. Keep in mind that a software-backed WebGL implementation is never going to perform as well as one running on a real GPU, but now more users will have access to basic 3D content on the web. See our previous blog post for more details on SwiftShader and how to try it out.»

If you're already running Chrome, you should see an update available in the About menu. Otherwise, you can find the latest download on Tom's Guide.